The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Appoints New CEO

Vanessa Reed, who is currently CEO of New Music USA, will assume her new role in June 2025

Music executive Vanessa Reed will become the first woman to be appointed CEO of the UK’s Royal Liverpool Philharmonic as of June 2, 2025. She succeeds Michael Eakin, who will retire at the end of March 2025 after a 16-year tenure.

Since 2019, Reed has served as CEO of New Music USA in New York, through which she has launched new initiatives including Amplifying Voices — which unites over 45 U.S. orchestras for new works and major jazz and film scoring programs that address inequities in the music industry. 

Among more tenure highlights include the launching of the New Music Solidarity Fund, which provided $500,000 of emergency grant funding to 1,100 artists in need, and the Next Jazz Legacy, which was supported by $2.5 million from the Mellon Foundation. Reed has also been an advisor to the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter. 

Prior to her time in the U.S., Reed led the UK’s PRS Foundation for new music and talent development. Her achievements here included the New Music Biennial which won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 best festival award, as well as the Keychange gender equity movement, which was awarded Classical Next’s Innovation Award, among other honors. 

From 2016 to 2019, she served as a Board member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. She was also an Ambassador for the University of Liverpool and collaborated with Liverpool City Council to support emerging musicians. 

Currently also serving as Chief Executive designate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Reed will depart New Music USA on May 2, 2025 — a national search for her successor will be announced in the coming weeks. 

“Vanessa’s leadership of New Music USA has been exemplary,” said Chair of New Music USA’s Board, Joe Walker. “She has raised the profile of our organization across the US, refreshed our vision and priorities, increased our resources for artists, and enabled us to build a bi-coastal board. All of us at New Music USA admire her energy and determination. We wish her the best in her new role.” 

“I am thrilled and honoured to be the first woman appointed to the role of Chief Executive at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,” Reed expressed. “I’m inspired by Liverpool Philharmonic’s mission to transform lives through music and I’m a longstanding fan of its three-way commitment to the orchestra, venues and learning programmes which reach over 100,000 young people every year. My goal is to ensure that we, as one of the world’s oldest music societies, continue to evolve and thrive as we embark on our next imaginative chapter.”

“[Reed] brings outstanding international experience in the music sector, and in encouraging, supporting and growing new musical voices, artists and audiences,” added Louise Shepherd CBE, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s Board of Trustees Chair. “She is a strategic and creative leader who, with our brilliant team, will take Liverpool Philharmonic forward and continue to grow the quality, ambition and reach of our work.”